Hagg Retiring From Times-Union After Nearly 50 Years
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jennifer [email protected]
A retirement reception open to the community has been planned for Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Tourmaline, 208 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw.
A native of the Chapman Lake area, Hagg was a radio news reporter in Missouri at KRMS in Osage Beach, Mo.
He worked as a night newsman beginning in August 1963 at WRSW in Warsaw, before joining the Times-Union as a reporter in fall 1964.
Newsroom positions of sports editor, city editor, and managing editor followed in subsequent years before he was named general manager of the newspaper in 1981. The title of editor-in-chief was added in 1988 following the retirement of longtime Senior Editor Curtis “Gabby” Garber on Dec. 31, 1987.
Hagg, 75, said age and health issues is the reasoning behind his decision to retire.
He has served as a part-time consultant for the Times-Union since 2003.
Hagg said he will miss the employees and people in the community he has gotten to know over the years while being employed at the newspaper.
“I am a people person and will miss the camaraderie with not only the people at the newspaper, but also the people I have come to know through working there,” Hagg said.
Hagg said the newspaper, owned by the Williams family, has been great to work for. The newspaper was founded by the family almost 160 years ago.
“I want to thank the Williams family for the support over the years I have been here. I have been loyal to them and they have been loyal to me, and I couldn’t have had a better boss than they have been,” Hagg said.
Hagg said the newspaper is the backbone of the community.
“The newspaper echoes the philosophy of the community and must present to the readership an unbiased account of what is happening in the city, county and schools,” Hagg said.
Hagg said when he was working as a night newsman for WRSW, Reub Williams, publisher at the time, informed him there was an opening in the newsroom and asked him if he wanted to fill the position.
“I had no intention of working at the newspaper and didn’t think I was qualified,” Hagg said.
Hagg declined the offer at first, telling Williams his degree was in broadcast journalism, and he did not feel he was qualified for the print reporting job.
He received a broadcasting degree from Midwestern Broadcasting School in 1956 in Chicago.
“Reub said, ‘Young man you have worked for my radio station for a year, you’re not aware of it but I have had my eye on you and I know what kind of job you’ve been doing,’” Hagg said.
Hagg said Williams told him if he didn’t think he was qualified for the reporting job he would not have offered it to him.
Reub asked Hagg to reconsider the reporting job and he agreed to take it.
He began as a cub reporter for the Times-Union in fall 1964 re-writing press releases, but as time went along he covered the police beat and was sports and city editors, managing editor, editor-in-chief and managing editor.
Along with his newsroom responsibilities, he was able to return to his love for radio by serving as a play-by-play announcer for Warsaw Tiger basketball in the ’70s and ’80s.
Hagg said one of his favorite memories was one of his first “big” assignments – taking photos of former President Lyndon Johnson who came to Dunlap, Ind., after the Palm Sunday Tornado in the ’60s.
“That was my first really big assignment, and I knew the editor was holding space for President Johnson photos, and I didn’t have much experience at the time with taking photos,” Hagg said.
Hagg said he returned to the newsroom with the photos and developed the film because there were no automatic cameras back then. Cameras were all manual.
“That was my first pressure-packed assignment, and it was neat to see the national press corp like a bunch of stampeding lions,” Hagg said.
Hagg said he got used to covering presidents for the paper over the years, taking photos of President Nixon in Indianapolis.
He enjoyed reporting on stories of the Refueling Wing at Grissom Air Base when he did flights with the airmen, and broadcasting play-by-play basketball games on the radio. He described it as “therapy.”
“Covering the basketball games gave me an opportunity to get my mind off the day’s worries because I had to concentrate on the game and memorize the players by heart,” Hagg said. “Your so immersed in the game you don’t think about your problems.”
His favorite memory was getting to meet John Glenn, retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot, astronaut and former U.S. senator.
Hagg met Glenn when he was a senator at a fundraising party in Indiana. Hagg and his wife, Pat, got their photo taken with him.
Hagg recalls the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy that impacted the local community when local meetings were cancelled that night in honor of Kennedy.
Hagg said the newspaper has seen many technology changes over the years.
Hagg said the newspaper used linotype machines in the ’60s. Someone sat at a keyboard and typed words that the reporter had written, which came out in raised letters on a led slug of type metal in a process known as “hot metal” typesetting. The linotype machine operator entered text on a 90-character keyboard.
Hagg said in his retirement he looks forward to spending time with his wife. They will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary in August.
Hagg said in his full retirement he will have a chance to review a to-do list that has been accumulating over a number of years.
They have three children, Beth Walker, Michigan; Mike Hagg, Silver Lake; and Brad Hagg, Warsaw; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
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A retirement reception open to the community has been planned for Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Tourmaline, 208 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw.
A native of the Chapman Lake area, Hagg was a radio news reporter in Missouri at KRMS in Osage Beach, Mo.
He worked as a night newsman beginning in August 1963 at WRSW in Warsaw, before joining the Times-Union as a reporter in fall 1964.
Newsroom positions of sports editor, city editor, and managing editor followed in subsequent years before he was named general manager of the newspaper in 1981. The title of editor-in-chief was added in 1988 following the retirement of longtime Senior Editor Curtis “Gabby” Garber on Dec. 31, 1987.
Hagg, 75, said age and health issues is the reasoning behind his decision to retire.
He has served as a part-time consultant for the Times-Union since 2003.
Hagg said he will miss the employees and people in the community he has gotten to know over the years while being employed at the newspaper.
“I am a people person and will miss the camaraderie with not only the people at the newspaper, but also the people I have come to know through working there,” Hagg said.
Hagg said the newspaper, owned by the Williams family, has been great to work for. The newspaper was founded by the family almost 160 years ago.
“I want to thank the Williams family for the support over the years I have been here. I have been loyal to them and they have been loyal to me, and I couldn’t have had a better boss than they have been,” Hagg said.
Hagg said the newspaper is the backbone of the community.
“The newspaper echoes the philosophy of the community and must present to the readership an unbiased account of what is happening in the city, county and schools,” Hagg said.
Hagg said when he was working as a night newsman for WRSW, Reub Williams, publisher at the time, informed him there was an opening in the newsroom and asked him if he wanted to fill the position.
“I had no intention of working at the newspaper and didn’t think I was qualified,” Hagg said.
Hagg declined the offer at first, telling Williams his degree was in broadcast journalism, and he did not feel he was qualified for the print reporting job.
He received a broadcasting degree from Midwestern Broadcasting School in 1956 in Chicago.
“Reub said, ‘Young man you have worked for my radio station for a year, you’re not aware of it but I have had my eye on you and I know what kind of job you’ve been doing,’” Hagg said.
Hagg said Williams told him if he didn’t think he was qualified for the reporting job he would not have offered it to him.
Reub asked Hagg to reconsider the reporting job and he agreed to take it.
He began as a cub reporter for the Times-Union in fall 1964 re-writing press releases, but as time went along he covered the police beat and was sports and city editors, managing editor, editor-in-chief and managing editor.
Along with his newsroom responsibilities, he was able to return to his love for radio by serving as a play-by-play announcer for Warsaw Tiger basketball in the ’70s and ’80s.
Hagg said one of his favorite memories was one of his first “big” assignments – taking photos of former President Lyndon Johnson who came to Dunlap, Ind., after the Palm Sunday Tornado in the ’60s.
“That was my first really big assignment, and I knew the editor was holding space for President Johnson photos, and I didn’t have much experience at the time with taking photos,” Hagg said.
Hagg said he returned to the newsroom with the photos and developed the film because there were no automatic cameras back then. Cameras were all manual.
“That was my first pressure-packed assignment, and it was neat to see the national press corp like a bunch of stampeding lions,” Hagg said.
Hagg said he got used to covering presidents for the paper over the years, taking photos of President Nixon in Indianapolis.
He enjoyed reporting on stories of the Refueling Wing at Grissom Air Base when he did flights with the airmen, and broadcasting play-by-play basketball games on the radio. He described it as “therapy.”
“Covering the basketball games gave me an opportunity to get my mind off the day’s worries because I had to concentrate on the game and memorize the players by heart,” Hagg said. “Your so immersed in the game you don’t think about your problems.”
His favorite memory was getting to meet John Glenn, retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot, astronaut and former U.S. senator.
Hagg met Glenn when he was a senator at a fundraising party in Indiana. Hagg and his wife, Pat, got their photo taken with him.
Hagg recalls the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy that impacted the local community when local meetings were cancelled that night in honor of Kennedy.
Hagg said the newspaper has seen many technology changes over the years.
Hagg said the newspaper used linotype machines in the ’60s. Someone sat at a keyboard and typed words that the reporter had written, which came out in raised letters on a led slug of type metal in a process known as “hot metal” typesetting. The linotype machine operator entered text on a 90-character keyboard.
Hagg said in his retirement he looks forward to spending time with his wife. They will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary in August.
Hagg said in his full retirement he will have a chance to review a to-do list that has been accumulating over a number of years.
They have three children, Beth Walker, Michigan; Mike Hagg, Silver Lake; and Brad Hagg, Warsaw; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
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